Others, like Madrigal, have taken stock of their situation while some others wake up to find their loved ones under debris. A certain old woman in overalls pulls at her curly soft brown hair as she produces a blood curdling scream. This scream is filled with agony at the sight of her husband whose legs are under a pile of rubble. Her scream sends shivers at some of those who are awake while startling others awake. The old woman throws herself at her husband and cradles his head in her arms as she cries and hiccups. She tries to push and lift the debris to no avail. Her husband groans and his eyelids begin to move. These small movements make the woman go on another bout of heart wrenching wails and tears, but this time, it is clear what she wants, "My husband! Someone, anyone please help my husband!" Those who are around her by three feet suddenly feel their hearts being gripped by sympathy. One such individual is a young man who is a member of Madrigal's group. Being sent to scout out the perimeter, he never intended to socialize or communicate with others until orders permitted. He is a young man man with a button nose, round eyes, and a demeanor that makes him easily approachable. Eventhough orders are clear, he wants to go help the old woman or more like his heart wants to. Counting his fingers one by one over and over for minute, those sympathetic feelings slowly lessen. He calculates in his mind about the distance to the perimeter and believes he is close to the perimeter seeing the sparse number of people and debris, so he decides, to his shock, change orders. He pulls two other men nearby and tells them, "lend me some help. In situations like these, we should help each other." The men he pulls over nod to their disbelief very easily. They agree in part to the young man's approachable demeanor and in part because of what he said. With teamwork, they lift up the surrounding debris. Just as they are about to lift up the main debris trapping the old man, a wave of wails rises and crashes around the hall. The young man motions for them to stop and sternly remarks, "take deep breaths. don't get distracted." Finally the main boulder is lifted. They see that only one leg of the old man's is slightly injured. The old man laughs hoarsely and with a sheepish grin, he thanks his saviors. He looks at his wife lovingly. The wife scolds him in her heart and helps pull up his slacks. The approachable young man who helped them comes over and offers his help while the other two leave to find the companions they were with. The young man let's them know that the surroundings are filled with debris and to be careful. Returning his attention to the old man, he squats down taking out a utility knife which he usese to cut some of the soaked in blood brown trousers. He, then, cuts a sleeve off his dress shirt in two. Half of his sleeve he uses to clean the old man's leg. The other half he uses to wrap the injured knee. He cuts his other sleeve and wraps the bottom part of his leg tightly to stop as much blood as possible. The old woman sobbing clutches his hands and continously says, "thank you ". The young man pats her hands and very subtly pulls his hands out of her grip. He looks at this old couple and says, "I have some errands to run. I'll come back and look at his wound more closely."
The old couple look at him gratefully. The young man tussles his hair bashfully which goes unnoticed by him. He runs to the perimeter disappearing as if by magic. The old couple are too busy with the delight of their reunion and safety. The young man reaches what he believes to be the perimeter. The sparse debris around him slightly curving. He falls into deep thought noticing this. He follows this slight curve for a couple of more meters and his hypothesis is confirmed. As he slows down, he feels deep grooves beneath his feet and notices deep lines. Surprised, he returns to where he first noticed the edge of the perimeter and looks for those deeply etched perfect lines or similar grooves. Pushing aside some debris and rubble, he notices similar markings. He follows one marking which leave him about a meter away from the old couple. He struggles between continuing investigating or helping the old couple first. He decides to take the old couple back to the group first. He greets the old couple and explains, "granny, grandpa, I have a teacher who is more knowledgeable about these injuries. Would you like for him to see grandpa's injury?"
The old woman nods her head bobbing it up and down. The old man is left with nowhere to refuse as his wife looks at him with a firm gaze that will not accept any childishness. The old man coughs: "thank you sonny. we hope it is not too much trouble."
The young man pauses at this but still replies, "no, no trouble at all." To the amazement of the old couple, the young man hoists up the old man with ease. He asks the old woman to stay close to him and step where he steps. He adds, "granny, grandpa, we are going to try to hurry so just pay attention ahead and don't slow down". The young man's implication is quite obvious. The old woman nods fearing for her husband. The old man hesitates. In his mind it makes sense, but in his heart- the dim hesitation he felt disappears when his wife adds, "we will listen to you" to the young man. The old man nods finally understanding in his heart that this is a young man. Seeing the young man closer, he is reminded of his children who have long spread their wings and left him and his wife. Slowly but surely, they make their way back to Madrigal's group.
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Not far away after the old woman's blood curdling scream, Ian is startled awake. Feeling a heavy pressure on his chest, he tries to push it away.The pressure grabs his shirt in a death grip. Ian is reminded of the disaster and wakes up completely hugging the small pressure that is his brother. He slowly descends his hand to his brother's cheek, but stops. Instead, he hugs his little brother as he looks around warily. Too dim to see far, all he can make out is a long hall and many, many people and pieces of wood and rubble. He sits up with an aching back. He leans back only to be met with empty air. He lunges forward only to slide and roll down a slope. He hurriedly adjusts his position to meet the ground below and protect his brother. Instead of meeting ground, he meets a sturdy cushion which responds with a grunt. Ian hurriedly scampers away. He vaguely recognizes the figure strewn over a bench or a piece of it. He thinks it is the crazy girl he saw at the concert. Seeing familiar people, he hurriedly takes out his cellphone from his front pocket. He notices the data bars. He tries to dial the emergency calls. No call goes through, and Ian is left in trepidation. His trepidation is broken by another wail that sets off other cries of shcok and fear. These wails slowly rise like a wave and crash throughout the hall. The hall becomes like the description of purgatory and its abandoned souls. Unknown to him and othera is that these thousands of people or at the center of the room. There are deep lines crisscrossing and surrounding them. The hall is not a hall but a chamber whose arching entrance also provides the only exit but it is pitch black with no way to know what lies beyond this darkness.